Radio News

While the future of "Power 95.3" is uncertain following the sale of WPYO-FM in Maitland, Fla., to Spanish Broadcasting System, its Cox Media Group sibling serving Tampa Bay — "97X" — will be getting a new home once its WSUN-FM 97.1 in Holiday, Fla., becomes a SBS property.

The nation's largest creator and distributor of audio content via linear and digital channels is making a change at the top. But, Neal Schore won't be fully disappearing from Triton Digital.

Fred Jacobs, President and Founder of Jacobs Media Strategies, is very much looking forward to in-person conversation at the 2022 NAB Show with industry leaders who haven't perhaps seen each other in three years. What can attendees expect to see in Las Vegas, and discuss at a special "Cocktails and Conversation" reception? Jacobs shares all in this fresh InFOCUS Podcast. LISTEN HERE

It was a Canton, Ohio-market Class A offering Christian Talk & Teaching programming as "The Light." Now, the light has been extinguished, but the mission to serve the Lord remains firmly in place. That's because Educational Media Foundation is now the station's owner.

It's known for its laptop computers and has a nearly 25-year heritage in the space. Now, it is using Spot Radio to remind consumers in the market for a new device to consider its products, rather than those of Lenovo or HP.

When it comes to emergency alerts in multiple languages, the MMTC believes establishing a "Designated Hitter" system could prove to be "an important step toward ensuring that every person in America receives life-saving information during an emergency."

B. Eric Rhoads, CEO of Streamline Publishing, is asking fellow broadcasters for one minute of their time to consider a way radio can help change the world. "The situation in Ukraine is dire," he says. "Radio around the country is raising money and doing what they can to help. But we can do more."

Of the broadcast media companies offering rich dividends, Saga Communications has consistently delivered, with the company's stock going ex-Dividend on March 21 and a $0.16 per share award scheduled for an April 8 delivery. In Q4 2021, the numbers were good, showing across-the-board improvement from 2020. That said, Saga still has a way to go to return to 2019 — or 2018 — dollar totals.

There's been much chatter about where the presentation of the 2022 NAB Marconi Radio Awards will be, now that the Radio Show has been abandoned, with sessions integrated into the annual NAB Show schedule. The honors won't be in Las Vegas in late April. Rather, they will be held on a Wednesday evening in mid-October as part of NAB Show New York.

When it came time for questions from financial analysts who cover Townsquare Media to ask questions, the focus was on pacings and on Automotive category performance. CEO Bill Wilson and the company's CFO obliged, and the situation regarding Auto dollars in 2022 isn't a great one.

It has 6,000 watts, serving Bedford, Va., and its surrounding communities. And, until March 1, it was a simulcast partner with a co-owned Oldies station focused on Lynchburg, owned by Lynchburg Radio Group. That shared programming has ended. In its place: KLOVE, as Educational Media Foundation has acquired the property.

As noted by the communications law attorneys at Fletcher Heald & Hildreth on its CommLawBlog.com website, FCC License renewal applications and associated EEO Program Reports are due on or before Friday, April 1st for radio licensees located in a pair of East Coast states.

The jury, assembled with the help of Chief Judge Alejandro Ortiz, Executive Creative Director at Campbell Ewald, is comprised of creative leaders from across the country. They represent all size markets with diverse audiences and innovative creative work for some of advertising’s largest brands.

The Audio Division of the FCC's Media Bureau has completed a "threshold fair distribution analysis" — a process that gives Al Shuldiner, the division chief, delegated authority on identifying the tentative (and suggested) selectee in each group of 15 mutually exclusive applications for new NCE FM station construction permits. That analysis has now concluded, and anyone that doesn't like the results has within 30 days of March 9 to file a Petition to Deny with the FCC.

On January 5, Westwood One, the national radio arm of Cumulus Media, officially put an end to "The Zach Sang Show." Now, the former Nickelodeon star is set to resurface — not on the radio, per se, but perhaps a "Mr. Microphone" for the YouTube era, courtesy of Amazon.